Raul Castro to Visit Iran in 2013

Rodriguez shared information about these plans during a meeting held in Havana last Thursday with Iranian deputy foreign minister of European and American Affairs, Ali Asgar Jayi, according Hispan TV network and the FARS agency.

Rodriguez told the Iranian representative that Cuba fully supports Iran at all levels, especially in matters concerning regional and international investment, and he reiterated the island’s support for Iran’s right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — who questions the existence of the Jewish Holocaust and persecutes homosexuals in his country — has visited the island twice (in 2006 and 2012), where he was honored by the University of Havana with an honorary doctorate degree.

What's your opinion?

Griffin

What possible issues form the basis of the warm relationship between a Marxist dictatorship and a Shia Islamic Republic?

A shared love of rum, salsa dancing and roast pork? Probably not.

Moses

For every honest observer, this trip is clearly about money. (Although your deliciously sarcastic question made me laugh out loud). Begging Iran is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. The UN sanctions have had a measurable effect on the Iranian economy so Raul’s January visit will likely yield no more than pocket change. On the other hand, from a Cuban perspective, something is better than nothing.

Griffin

The Iranians have oil, which Cuba desperately needs. The Castro brothers have long experience dealing with an economic embargo, something the Iranians are just now beginning to face. The Iranians would like the help of experienced bureaucrats in dealing with the shady networks of banks and institutions wiling to shift money around for embargoed regimes.

On 2009, Iran established a bank in Venezuela, and there are now weekly flights between Tehran and Caracas:

“Weekly flights connecting Caracas and Tehran, stopping in Damascus. These flights, which
are alternately Conviasa and IranAir flights, although ostensibly commercial, accept no
commercial passengers or freight and land and unload official passengers and cargo
without any immigration or customs controls.xiii”